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[GreyHorace]

How Ms. Marvel became Marvel’s most important superhero

Iron Man. Captain America. Black Panther. Captain Marvel. Thor. The Guardians of the Galaxy. The last decade of Marvel has made a variety of superheroes into household names, cultural phenomena, and topics of mainstream conversation. Some have even changed the way we think about the world around us.

Arguably, though, the most important Marvel superhero of the last decade isn’t on that list: Kamala Khan, otherwise known as Ms. Marvel.

Ms. Marvel changed that narrative. Since the series launched, its protagonist Kamala Khan and its massive success have proved to Marvel that not only could its A-list heroes stand to look more like the wide array of people who read and love Marvel comics, but also that its loyal readers could relate to a hero who doesn’t look like the traditional model. The stories Marvel went on to tell after her debut — and will continue to tell on the big screen for years to come — are indebted to Ms. Marvel.

Ms. Marvel was a breakout success that changed Marvel comic books

Prior to Ms. Marvel’s introduction in 2014, Marvel’s comics division was deeply focused on its long-standing core characters, including the Avengers (thanks in large part to the movies) and the X-Men (whose film franchise was well-established and whose characters, like the iconic Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, dominated popularity in the ’90s). It was also beginning to push the race of superhumans called the Inhumans (stars of a dismal television series). That meant most of the featured heroes were generally men and mostly white; though the X-Men, for example, featured mutants of all colors, shapes, and sizes, burly Wolverine was often the featured star of the comics.

Heroes who weren’t white men, like alt-universe Spider-Man Miles Morales and Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, had loyal followings too. But none of them had the same level of recognition and success as that of Peter Parker or Tony Stark.

Enter Ms. Marvel.

Written by G. Willow Wilson, drawn by artist Adrian Alphona, and overseen by editors Sana Amanat and Steve Wacker, Ms. Marvel stars Kamala Khan, a Muslim and a Pakistani-American teen living in New Jersey. She leads a pretty normal life, complete with all of the usual insecurities, schoolwork, crushes, heartaches, disappointments, triumphs, parties, groundings, and melodrama — that is, until a green mist sweeps across the world (while Kamala is at a party for which she snuck out to go), activates her latent alien Inhuman genes, and unlocks her shape-shifting abilities.

Kamala faces a Peter Parker-like challenge: to continue living life as a teen, but also as the hero she always dreamed of being. Most of the time, one comes at the expense of the other, with hero-ing getting in the way of school or first kisses or with things like doting parents, overprotective siblings, and the need to maintain grades at school interrupting hero time.

What’s so distinctive about Kamala’s story is how contemporary and relatable it is. Considering how different she is from the popular superheroes who preceded her — her religion, the color of her skin, her being a suburban teenage girl — it’s a testament to Wilson and Alphona’s touching storytelling that Kamala’s life, its highs and lows, is so universal and yet specific to her experiences. Marvel’s comic books have always asked their readers to imagine themselves in someone else’s shoes and someone else’s experiences, and Kamala turned out to be no different.

Ms. Marvel #1 was a critical and commercial hit, earning high marks from reviewers while going into seven printings; the demand for the issue was so high, it required Marvel to create more comic books seven times over to keep up. According to Comic Chron, a site that tracks and estimates comic book sales, 75,280 physical issues of Ms. Marvel #1 were sold in 2014, landing it among the top 105 issues sold that year (keep in mind that multiple issues of comics from multiple publishers are released every week).

Digitally (where sales aren’t reported by comic book companies thoroughly), we know that Ms. Marvel has traditionally been one of Marvel’s bestsellers and that over 500,000 trade paperbacks (collected, physical editions of the comic book) have been sold as of 2018. Ms. Marvel currently stars in the also-successful The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, written by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by Minkyu Jung.

Ms. Marvel’s breakaway success, in a territory crowded by recognizable legacy costumes, was undeniable proof to Marvel that racial, religious, and gender diversity were worth the investment.

By 2014, the year Ms. Marvel launched, Marvel had made a total of 10 movies. None were devoted to a female superhero. To be clear, characters like Gamora and Black Widow existed, but they did not command their own films; no female Marvel superhero would have her own solo film until 2019’s Captain Marvel. A year later, after the infamous Sony email leak, which included internal correspondence between studio executives from Sony and other studio heads, it was revealed that then-Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter believed that female superhero-led movies would fail.

His view strongly differed from what was happening on the comic book side, where Marvel soon began what would be a concerted push for representation and diversity in its comic books. Silk and Spider-Gwen, characters in the Spider-Man universe, were introduced and found followings the same year as Ms. Marvel. Existing characters like Scarlet Witch and Spider-Woman also got their own solo titles in 2015.

That same year, Marvel began monumental changes: Steve Rogers’s compatriot Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon, took the title of Captain America,Jane Foster became Thor, and Iceman, an original X-Man, came out as gay. A-Force, a comic featuring an all-female team of Avengers, also debuted in 2015.

Not all of these books were successful, and some poor titles even caused retailers to grumble about sales. Therein is probably a lesson about the pitfalls of cashing in on diversity for the sake of diversity, but there have also been many legacy heroes’ books that have flopped. But Marvel’s comic books, in the wake of Ms. Marvel’s success, were more diverse than ever. And with the surge of female and non-white superheroes on the comic book side of Marvel’s business, it made Marvel Studios’s lack thereof even more glaring.

It turns out that Ms. Marvel is a trailblazer on the Studios’ side of things, too. Her success has set the stage for a much more diverse next phase of Marvel movies. In 2021’s Thor: Love and Thunder, directed by Taika Waititi, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) will return and, just like in the comic books, she will be deemed “worthy” to wield the mythical Mjölnir and assume the powers of the Thunder God — a story inspired by the 2015 event created during Marvel’s broader representation push.

Thor: Love and Thunder will follow Captain Marvel’s debut in 2019 and Black Widow’s long-awaited solo movie in May 2020 — the trio will be Marvel’s first three female superhero movies. Marvel Studios will also continue telling stories that feature non-white heroes. 2018’s Black Panther was a box-office smash, becoming one of the biggest movies of all time.And next up, Marvel will welcome its first Asian-American superhero in 2021’s Shang Chi. Marvel’s cinematic schedule, including a sequel to Black Panther in 2022, will be the most diverse in history.

Instead of joining these heroes on the big screen, Kamala will star elsewhere: She’ll have her own television show, which Marvel announced at this year’s D23 Expo fan event. No official release date has been set, but according to Marvel, Ms. Marvel and the rest of Marvel’s Disney+ television shows will eventually tie intothe Marvel Cinematic Universe. This could mean the eventual appearance of Kamala on the big screen, fighting alongside all of the Avengers she idolized. And if that happens, Kamala could be the beacon of hope for a new set of fans — and could give those who are already familiar with Jersey’s friendly neighborhood shapeshifter a chance to fall in love with her all over again.

I had to laugh at some of assertions this article made.

If Kamala is so important, how come Marvel has had to relauch her solo series 3 times due to poor sales?

If Kamala is so important, why didn't they make a solo videogame starring her? She's only one of the many characters in the upcoming Square Enix Avengers game. Marvel instead released a solo game this gen starring of course, Spider-Man.

And lastly, if Kamala is so important, how have they not made a movie of her? Why'd they instead go with the previous owner of her codename, Carol Danvers? Why is she being regulated to a streaming show on Disney+?

I'll admit I've not read any of the Ms. Marvel books, so I can't really comment on their quality. But to say that Kamala's influence is changing Marvel for the better is laughable. In the same story this writer points out that Marvel's forays into diversity resulted in cancelled books. Marvel's most important titles will always be Spider-Man, X-Men and The Avengers. Kamala's only a presence because Marvel keeps trying to push her in the limelight.

And forgive me if I don't share this writer's delusion that Kamala is some kind of cultural icon. Last I heard the Marvel comics division is struggling with flagging sales of their books. How can he say that Kamala is so popular when the majority general public probably have never read her comics?

So yeah,, this woke clickbaity article reads like it was written by a Disney shill. Regardless, I wish Marvel all the best with their plans for Kamala Khan. If she becomes a breakout success like they hope her to be, then great. But it'll be because the creators in charge and not stupid articles like this.

 

[Captain Zyrain]

I don't read comics, so my only Marvel fix is the movies & tv shows. I don't know or care about Ms. Marvel, BUT I hope they keep up their streak of making the weirdest and wildest shit entertaining in the MCU.

I suppose I felt the same way about the Guardians of the Galaxy way back when, and now I think they're great. If the MCU can make Ms. Marvel feel 'real' without turning to full on pandering or whatever, then I'll be happy.

 

[Cravis]

I’ll be interested to see how the next slate of Marvel films perform now that the overarching story ended with Endgame.

I don’t think Captain Marvel would have made nearly as much money had it not been out there between Infinity War and Endgame. I have to hand it to them, that was a very smart move.

 

[Jooxed]

Ms Marvel is alright and she has had some fun interactions with Wolverine but I wouldn't call her the most important super hero. For a while they kept trying to push Inhumans as the X-Men replacements and failed miserably.

 

[NickFire]

Iron Man has been their most important hero lately. Thanks to the brilliant portrayal of him by RDJ, we have days worth of phenomenal movies to watch.

 

[Nymphae]

I've been playing MvC2 this week, and fuck I really miss that period of the 90's. Awesome Marvel art, the comics were probably at their peak, constant creativity and new fighting games being released all the time, it's really a bummer what happened to Marvel and fighting games in general. Like there's still good stuff obviously, but it's sad when you look at MvC2 and compare it to Infinite. We're never getting anything like MvC2 ever again.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

So important she is in zero out of 25 movies

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I've been playing MvC2 this week, and fuck I really miss that period of the 90's. Awesome Marvel art, the comics were probably at their peak, constant creativity and new fighting games being released all the time, it's really a bummer what happened to Marvel and fighting games in general. Like there's still good stuff obviously, but it's sad when you look at MvC2 and compare it to Infinite. We're never getting anything like MvC2 ever again.

I hate how woke Marvel has become.

Though kinda funny being the CEO of Marvel is one of Trump's biggest donors.

 

[Javthusiast]

 

[Kagey K]

And lastly, if Kamala is so important, how have they not made a movie of her? Why'd they instead go with the previous owner of her codename, Carol Danvers? Why is she being regulated to a streaming show on Disney+?

They are not the same person. Carol still exists as Mrs. Marvel and Kamala chose the name because of her.

I disagree that she is Marvels most important hero, but her books are fun and I enjoy them, as well as a Champions (which is a split off from the Avengers) with her and Miles.

 

[DKehoe]

What are the current biggest selling titles these days?

 

[Fbh]

Does her powers look a silly in the comics as they do in the trailer for the videogame?

I'm not into comics and I haven't read any of her stories so I can't comment much on her as a character. I do think it's a bit weird how 90% of the article in the OP talks about how big and important she is and yet the only thing they keep repeating over and over is that she is female, isn't white and was among the top 105 (lol) best selling issues of the year.

 

[sol_bad]

I had to laugh at some of assertions this article made.

If Kamala is so important, how come Marvel has had to relauch her solo series 3 times due to poor sales?

If Kamala is so important, why didn't they make a solo videogame starring her? She's only one of the many characters in the upcoming Square Enix Avengers game. Marvel instead released a solo game this gen starring of course, Spider-Man.

And lastly, if Kamala is so important, how have they not made a movie of her? Why'd they instead go with the previous owner of her codename, Carol Danvers? Why is she being regulated to a streaming show on Disney+?

Point 1 about "restarting" her books. Do proper research and stop reading click bait articles. It's been very common practice to restart at issue 1 again when there is a new creative team or there is a new story arc. Even with heavy hitters like Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America. It's been happening for at least 10 years.

Point 2. Why haven't Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America or Black Panther had video games since 2009?

Point 3. It seems like it might be a well thought out plan to introduce all the new younger Avengers through Disney+. Just a guess on my part.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Point 1 about "restarting" her books. Do proper research and stop reading click bait articles. It's been very common practice to restart at issue 1 again when there is a new creative team or there is a new story arc. Even with heavy hitters like Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America. It's been happening for at least 10 years.

Point 2. Why haven't Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America or Black Panther had video games since 2009?

Point 3. It seems like it might be a well thought out plan to introduce all the new younger Avengers through Disney+. Just a guess on my part.

Point 2. There was an Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America video games based on the movie character versions but had original stories. In fact the Thor games had actually VA by Hennsworth and Hiddleston. They were published and/or developed by Sega.

There probably would have been more but this was before the Disney buyout.

 

[Jooxed]

What are the current biggest selling titles these days?

hickmans dawn of x titles

 

[Doom85]

I love Kamala and generally enjoy her books (her first run was great. The second run was good but man fuck everything involving Civil War 2. The first Civil War comic was a mess to begin with, just watch Linkara's top 15 problems video in it as he nails all its issues, why make a sequel? The tone just didn't work with what the series had done so far, and while Kamala made some mistakes the blame lied more with Carol, but also Bruno blaming Kamala for his dumbass decision that got him injured was fucking stupid, I hope at some point he finally apologizes for blaming her for him doing something without thinking of the consequences). She's my second favorite of the new Marvel characters of the 2010's (Gwenpool is #1 but only in her book. Gwenpool is so vastly different from Deadpool in comedy and story in her series that Deadpool himself laughs at people thinking she's just a copy......and then writers of other books throw her in their titles and write her just as a Deadpool copy. Thanks morons!)

That being said, I'm nervous about her Disney + series. The showrunner has only wrote a few episodes for a comedy show and is a stand-up comedian focusing on politics. Not exactly inspiring confidence. Yes, the Ms. Marvel series can occasionally focus on politics, but primarily it focuses on Kamala's fighting villains (of course), struggling at balancing her personal life and superhero-ing (I love when Tony Stark gently explains to her to prioritize her personal life, that she shouldn't destroy her future just so she can be sure to be at every single Avengers mission. Someone should have told Peter Parker this years ago) and her relationships with her family and friends. IIRC, the showrunners for She-Hulk and Moon Knight seemed like good choices based on their resumes so it saddens me that Kamala's choice feels like an afterthought. This might be a case where executive meddling might be a good thing, if the showrunner tries to derail Kamala into nothing but a political mouthpiece then I'd want someone to step in and put a stop to it. Having the original creator have input would be nice.

I'm more confident in her role in the Avengers video game. The voice actress sounds good (was really convinced it was Ashley Johnson at first AKA Ellie from The Last of Us), and her gameplay looks fun.

 

[DESTROYA]

Got to agree with the OP , It’s a clickbait headline and she is nowhere close to being the most important superhero in the Marvel universe.
Marvel was one of the reasons I stopped reading comics altogether the SJW garbage is too much for me.

 

[sol_bad]

I don't like the article because it keeps mentioning "white" and "men". So stupid and annoying.
I agree that she is an important character but not the most important character. If a Muslim based super hero can continue to sell well, that is an important thing no doubt.

 

[Labolas]

Kamala has always been meh. I've read her first solo run and it was pretty boring. Read like someone imitating Joss Whedon but that's a majority of Marvel books nowadays. Also her powers are garbo.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

I hate how woke Marvel has become.

Yeah.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Yeah.

Having women (or minorities, or LBGT) in something does not in itself make something 'woke'. However, it's the way companies like Marvel/Disney are using that stuff as a marketing gimmick that makes it feel 'woke'. The way that they are using that stuff as a selling point in place of, well, writing genuinely good stories (this doesn't mean there aren't bad stories with "non-diverse" casts; it's just that those stories aren't afforded the "representation safety net" to prop them up for being bad), and using it to push harmful idpol rhetoric based on artificial/superficial identities is where the problems have been.

And the fact they then weaponize that to attack people who don't fall into those definitions as being awful bigots simply because they don't want to entertain a poorly-written story that just happens to also be diverse (never minding the fact that whenever those "awful bigots" turn out to not even be white, cis or male (which is quite often), they get ironically erased and whitewashed by so-called "progressive" critics), is especially destructive.

When you look at how these companies tailor their marketing to exploit socio-political climates in places like America, in ways that completely disrespect the original fanbases who don't buy into that idpol schlock, yet at the same time censor ALL of that crap out once it comes time to stand up for those convictions in a supposedly "global" economy when releasing in certain foreign countries, it just goes to show you why they do any of this to begin with: money. These companies are exploiting far-left progressives for capital, nothing more, and the moment those causes start to lose them more money than it earns, they drop it like a bad habit.

The ironic part is that, in trying to exploit these far-left artificial identities for financial profit, these companies (and the people who foolishly support them in doing it) betray their own supposed progressive ideologies. Money becomes the measure of supposed success in converting wrong-thinkers to the "correct" ideological narrative, instead of actual rationale logic, discussion, maturity, and reason that acknowledges strong ethical and moral codes which've helped maintain the integrity of society for thousands of years.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

Shes a female character with zero sex appeal and puts a smiling face on the religion of peace. Of course the Left will love her.

 

[Hinedorf]

I honestly don't like the character, her story, her powers, her artwork. Glad for her success just not for me.

 

[Thabass]

So important she is in zero out of 25 movies

Technically 3 (I think; definitely 2) / 25. But still that's a pretty low percentage for the most important character in the Marvel world.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I wonder how much of her success is even genuine; Marvel comics as a whole sell like garbage, and Ms. Marvel's been rebooted several times. Because Sana Amanat herself basically sees Ms. Marvel as a representation of herself (similar to how Kathleen Kennedy sees Rey as an image of herself), she's just steady pushing for Ms. Marvel time and time again even if the market doesn't quite click with them, and several other characters are notably more popular even with similarly bad or worst stories.

Personally there's nothing about the character I really enjoy: she's not sexy like Rogue, Storm, Psylocke etc. are. Her powers suck imho, and she has that grating snobby teenager attitude going on (like Peter Parker, but on steroids and much less charm because she doesn't have a lot of characterization to balance that out). I won't say they're a "design-by-committee" character, but overall they're just bland, like so many of the newer Marvel heroes and heroines.

 

[Kagey K]

Technically 3 (I think; definitely 2) / 25. But still that's a pretty low percentage for the most important character in the Marvel world.

No she’s in 0. Her mentor Mrs. Marvel is in 2 movies,

 

[GreyHorace]

Point 1 about "restarting" her books. Do proper research and stop reading click bait articles. It's been very common practice to restart at issue 1 again when there is a new creative team or there is a new story arc. Even with heavy hitters like Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America. It's been happening for at least 10 years.

Are you a newbie to American comics? Relaunching a series at number 1 is a tried and true marketing tactic employed by the Big Two to try and generate interest for a particular book. When a comic's sales dip they oftentimes with a brand new numbering to generate interest with readers. It has nothing to do with new creative teams or story arcs. The fact that Kamala's book has been relauched 3 times since her debut in 2017 speaks volumes of how she's not connecting with the fans.

As for it happening with the big characters like Spider-Man and the rest of the Avengers. Well Marvel can't help it since their comic sales have cratered in the last few years ever since they abandoned their loyal base in favor of woke readership. The fact that they've relaunched their flagship heroes' series proves how dire things at the 'House of Ideas'.

Point 2. Why haven't Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America or Black Panther had video games since 2009?

Because AAA videogame development in the past few years has become pretty expensive and Disney isn't willing to shell out the dough since they bought Marvel? It wasn't so bad last gen, as someone posted SEGA produced a number of games based on the MCU characters like Iron Man and Captain America (underrated game). Nowadays you only Marvel on mobile or a Lego game.

Disney/Marvel of course, is slowly starting to turn around to the idea of videogames, most likely due to the success of Rocksteady's Batman Arkham series. Still, they'll probably only use their most popular characters as they're sure to sell. We've had Insomiac's Spider-Man and now the Avengers is almost upon us. But no way in hell would they take the risk of giving Kamala her own game, hence why she's in the latter.

I wonder how much of her success is even genuine; Marvel comics as a whole sell like garbage, and Ms. Marvel's been rebooted several times. Because Sana Amanat herself basically sees Ms. Marvel as a representation of herself (similar to how Kathleen Kennedy sees Rey as an image of herself), she's just steady pushing for Ms. Marvel time and time again even if the market doesn't quite click with them, and several other characters are notably more popular even with similarly bad or worst stories.

There's a joke going around some comic boards I frequent stating that she's the real power in the comics division and not Editor In Chief CB Cebulski. Given how much focus they give on Kamala it makes sense to me.

 

[Doom85]

The fact that Kamala's book has been relauched 3 times since her debut in 2017 speaks volumes of how she's not connecting with the fans.

Kamala's series started in 2014. Also, it's been stated that while her physical sales are low, her digital sales are generally high, at a time they were #1. Also her trades have sold decently. Also her sales did dip but it was made clear it was due to the forced tie-in with Civil War 2. LONG before this, it's been established again and again that readers of a solo series are generally not fans of crossovers taking solo series hostage for a while (hey, are you reading Nightwing? Well, in the middle of his story, here's a random issue of him fighting the Court of Owls! It has jack and shit to do with what Nightwing has been up to at this point, but dammit Batman is dealing with them at the moment and we need to make sure this story infiltrates every single Bat-family series we have whether it works for the story or not!), and Ms. Marvel is no exception. Granted, I read the trades and didn't drop it but I also feel the book suffered a bit due to Civil War 2 rearing its ugly head where it wasn't wanted.

 

[GreyHorace]

Kamala's series started in 2014. Also, it's been stated that while her physical sales are low, her digital sales are generally high, at a time they were #1. Also her trades have sold decently. Also her sales did dip but it was made clear it was due to the forced tie-in with Civil War 2. LONG before this, it's been established again and again that readers of a solo series are generally not fans of crossovers taking solo series hostage for a while (hey, are you reading Nightwing? Well, in the middle of his story, here's a random issue of him fighting the Court of Owls! It has jack and shit to do with what Nightwing has been up to at this point, but dammit Batman is dealing with them at the moment and we need to make sure this story infiltrates every single Bat-family series we have whether it works for the story or not!), and Ms. Marvel is no exception. Granted, I read the trades and didn't drop it but I also feel the book suffered a bit due to Civil War 2 rearing its ugly head where it wasn't wanted.

I stand corrected. Still, the fact that they've relaunched it three times makes it look like they're trying to force her upon her readers when the demand isn't there.

I've not read Ms. Marvel but I read one's account of following the series since the start, and they described how Marvel screwed the pooch with Kamala because of her sudden popularity and tried to force her in series like The Avengers and Champions.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

those

Yeah.

Wow.

I love all those characters.

Oh and Hela was one of my favorite MCU villains.

 

[sol_bad]

Are you a newbie to American comics? Relaunching a series at number 1 is a tried and true marketing tactic employed by the Big Two to try and generate interest for a particular book. When a comic's sales dip they oftentimes with a brand new numbering to generate interest with readers. It has nothing to do with new creative teams or story arcs. The fact that Kamala's book has been relauched 3 times since her debut in 2017 speaks volumes of how she's not connecting with the fans.

As for it happening with the big characters like Spider-Man and the rest of the Avengers. Well Marvel can't help it since their comic sales have cratered in the last few years ever since they abandoned their loyal base in favor of woke readership. The fact that they've relaunched their flagship heroes' series proves how dire things at the 'House of Ideas'.



Because AAA videogame development in the past few years has become pretty expensive and Disney isn't willing to shell out the dough since they bought Marvel? It wasn't so bad last gen, as someone posted SEGA produced a number of games based on the MCU characters like Iron Man and Captain America (underrated game). Nowadays you only Marvel on mobile or a Lego game.

Disney/Marvel of course, is slowly starting to turn around to the idea of videogames, most likely due to the success of Rocksteady's Batman Arkham series. Still, they'll probably only use their most popular characters as they're sure to sell. We've had Insomiac's Spider-Man and now the Avengers is almost upon us. But no way in hell would they take the risk of giving Kamala her own game, hence why she's in the latter.



There's a joke going around some comic boards I frequent stating that she's the real power in the comics division and not Editor In Chief CB Cebulski. Given how much focus they give on Kamala it makes sense to me.

You can check this site for physical sales numbers.

Comichron: Comics History By The Numbers!

The world's largest public archive of comic book sales figures, compiled by John Jackson Miller

www.comichron.com

You'll see that Marvel and DC are pretty equal over the years. It's just that DC and Marvel have different strategies. I'm not new to the industry and I know, like you said, that #1's draw in more sales. I've read comics off an on since 2004. Marvel have had some incredible runs over the last 10 years with Hickman, Fraction, Waid, Posehn/Duggan, Aaron and Slott among others. If you aren't aware that Marvel reset to #1 for all characters with new creative teams and/or story arcs I'd question if you are new to comics.

RE games, you are spot on and answered your own question about the topic and why a Kamala Kahn game hasn't been made. In general, their strategy has focused on team mobile games. Now that they are returning to consoles/PC, there is no way in hell they'd make a game about Daredevil, Black Panther or Hulk game either. Doesn't mean they aren't popular though.


As shitty as the article is, it's still one persons opinion so to them Kamala is "the most important". Me personally, the most important Marvel character to me is Daredevil. Quite possibly because he has a disability and I have a disability, totally different disabilities but there aren't many heroes at a "disadvantage" like that.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

 

[MisterHero]

Ultimate Nick Fury and Miles Morales getting the shaft cuz they're dudes.

I remember when the Ultimate Universe was supposed to be Marvel's big modernization. Better late than never I guess.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

I saw her in Secret Wars/Last Days and don't really remember anything that happened except for thinking Carol Danvers looked odd in grey. That was around the time I stopped reading superhero comics too because it's really just reboot after reboot. I remember one issue was just back-and-forth texting between two characters. "Oh em gee, maybe u have mutant powers? LOL"

 

[cormack12]

I had to laugh at some of assertions this article made.

Right? This is the internet in 2020. Where people now make a bold personal claim and then try to contruct a biased article which is to be taken as a universal truth. There's no logic or actual evidence based links between any of this nonsense. And if you disagree of course you're the usual -ist. This person likes Kamala Khan - that's fine. But not let's make out that they are a watershed moment for drastic change.

 

[VertigoOA]

C-tier hero

 

[DESTROYA]

C-tier hero

I’d rate her below that and still don’t understand how this character has its own series.

 

[QuantumZebra]

I don't read comics, so my only Marvel fix is the movies & tv shows. I don't know or care about Ms. Marvel, BUT I hope they keep up their streak of making the weirdest and wildest shit entertaining in the MCU.

I suppose I felt the same way about the Guardians of the Galaxy way back when, and now I think they're great. If the MCU can make Ms. Marvel feel 'real' without turning to full on pandering or whatever, then I'll be happy.

If they can make Squirrel Girl or Deadpool work... they can make anything work.

 

[AJUMP23]

Ninja Turtles are the most important super heroes.